I've had a lot of trouble connecting with God lately, especially when reading the Bible. I haven't picked it up very often and when I have it's been hard to get something out of what I'm reading. So I recently started Mark, a book that - in the past - I haven't been that interested in. That's sound logic, right? I'm having a hard time getting interested in what I'm reading so I go to a book that I don't find interesting...
Thankfully, God has been showing me that Mark is anything but boring. When I sat down to read chapter 5, I decided that once I was done I was going to write down one quality of Jesus the chapter revealed. That way I could chew on something and put a little thought into what I just read.
I didn't think the answer would be as clear as it was, but this chapter clearly demonstrates that Jesus is powerful.
The chapter starts with Jesus and a crazy guy. This guy is like Frankenstein's monster, the whole village is afraid of him - they try to chain him up but he just breaks free. This man is crazy, demon-possessed and all day and all night he lives "among the tombs" and where he cuts "himself with stones" (5:5).
As soon as the man sees Jesus he runs up and falls down before Him. "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." (5:7). The guy everybody is afraid of is afraid of Jesus.
Jesus talks to the demon, and it turns out there is more than one: "My name is Legion, for we are many" (5:9). Then, in one of the bizarrest images in the New Testament, Jesus sends the demons into a herd of pigs, which all run "down the steep bank into the sea" (5:13).
Next we see Jesus on the other side of the lake, and he is going to a man's house to heal his sick daughter. A great crowd is with him, and one woman believes that if she can touch Jesus' garment, she will be healed. She touches it, and "immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease" (5:29).
Then it turns out the man's daughter is not sick, but dead. Jesus continues to the house, where He says, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping" (5:39). People laugh at Him (5:40). What a bizarre reaction: not just because it's Jesus and they know His rep for healing people but because their child is dead. What kind of mourning are they in that they have time to laugh at Jesus? Anyways, Jesus forgives them and goes in and with two words He raises the child from the dead. The girl gets up "immediately".
In every story people are afraid (5:15), in fear (5:33), and overcome with amazement (5: 42).
Stories like this are important, because sometimes we over-familiarize Jesus and think of Him as just "one of the guys" and everybody's buddy. Jesus does love us, and because of His death and resurrection we can know Him intimately, but that doesn't mean we should forget who He is:
"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16)
